WASHINGTON — A lawyer who represented Florida State University in an explosive sexual assault case and another lawyer who during the 2016 presidential campaign accused Hillary Clinton of enabling sexual predators have been chosen for key roles in the Department of Education, raising fears that the agency could pull back from enforcing civil rights in schools and on college campuses.

President Trump will nominate Carlos G. Muñiz, a politically connected Florida lawyer who served as deputy general counsel to former Gov. Jeb Bush, to be general counsel to the Education Department. Mr. Muñiz, a lawyer and consultant based in the Jacksonville office of McGuireWoods, is perhaps best known for representing Florida State University in a lawsuit brought by a student who accused the former star quarterback Jameis Winston of raping her in 2012.

Candice E. Jackson, who represented one of the women who attended a news conference before a presidential debate in October to impugn Mrs. Clinton’s treatment of sexual assault victims, announced that she will be the acting assistant secretary for civil rights.

The posts are among the most high profile in the department. Staffing in the Office for Civil Rights has been a source of concern for civil rights advocates ever since the Trump administration rescinded protections for transgender students as one of its first education policy moves.

A department spokesman declined to comment on Ms. Jackson’s apparent appointment, which was announced on her personal website and in a news release from Pepperdine University School of Law, where she earned a degree in 2002.

“He will bring a tremendous amount of experience and insight to the U.S. Department of Education,” she said.

The appointments have been met with trepidation from advocates who are anxious about the future of the Office for Civil Rights, which gained a higher profile under President Barack Obama as it focused policy as much on equity in education as on achievement.

In the 2016 fiscal year, the office processed almost 17,000 civil rights complaints — a nearly 60 percent increase over the previous year, and one of the highest single-year totals in the office’s history — and opened 4,000 investigations, according to a report released in December.

In the days after the Trump administration rescinded the guidelines allowing transgender students to use bathrooms corresponding with their gender identity, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, representing 60 organizations, sent a letter to Ms. DeVos asking for the next head of the civil rights office to have a track record of upholding student rights, and fighting systemic and individual cases of discrimination.

The coalition, which includes organizations like the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc. and the National Women’s Law Center, called it “one of the most significant decisions you and the president will make with regard to the civil rights of the nation’s students.”

“When you put these appointments together, people have reason to pay close attention to this civil rights agenda,” said Fatima Goss Graves, senior vice president at the National Women’s Law Center.

Mr. Muñiz would advise on a broad range of policies that fall under the purview of the Office for Civil Rights, including sexual harassment and violence complaints, the mistreatment of students with special needs, school discipline disparities, and discrimination based on race, ethnicity and gender. The Obama administration issued nearly three dozen policy guidance documents.

John Clune, who represented the accuser in the Florida State case, called Mr. Muñiz “a strong advocate and smart lawyer,” and said the case was better for having him work on it.

“One of the things I appreciated was he was approachable,” Mr. Clune said. “I felt like Carlos was somebody that we could have candid conversation with. He cared about what our positions were.”

However, Mr. Clune said Mr. Muñiz did not approve of the Office for Civil Rights’ conducting its own investigation into the matter, and he worried about a conflict of interest if Mr. Muñiz was to advise on this case.

Mr. Muñiz referred all questions to the Education Department.

Ms. Jackson’s apparent appointment is also complicated. Advocates say that while her track record shows a commitment to standing up for victims, those victims did not include those who accused Mr. Trump of sexual misconduct.

“It’s encouraging that she has experience believing survivors,” said Sofie Karasek, director of education at End Rape on Campus, which she helped found. However, she added, “for her not to believe survivors when it’s politically expedient, that raises the question of how committed you are to this issue.”

Ms. Jackson referred questions to the Education Department because she had not started yet.

In her 2005 book, “Their Lives: Women Targeted by the Clinton Machine,” Ms. Jackson also detailed stories of women, including Juanita Broaddrick, Paula Jones and Gennifer Flowers, who claimed to have had sexual encounters with Bill Clinton, some of them unwanted or violent.

A version of this article appears in print on , Section A, Page 11 of the New York edition with the headline: 2 Picks for Education Dept. Raise Fears on Civil Rights. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe